Of Love And Betrayal
by Passion Unbroken
Summary: Hermione and Draco can't help but feel attracted to each other. They aren't supposed to, but they do. But with evil lurking in every corner, and a Wizarding War looming closer, they must pick sides. What happens when one cjooses light, and the the other chooses dark? Rated T just to be safe.


_**A/N:**_** Hello! I am taking over beautifulliar22's story, Too Many Secrets, here. This is my first ever Harry Potter fan fiction here, and I hope you guys like it... The first five chapters will be beautifulliar22's own work, and there on my own. I HAVE, however, added on my own little changes and such in these chapters as well.  
><strong>**Hoping for the best,  
>MM'Tude. <strong>

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><p><strong>Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, sadly. All hail Queen Rowling!<strong>

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><p><strong>Hermione: <strong>

Preparations for the OWLs were probably the reason I hadn't been getting enough sleep. Probably the reason that it was getting harder and harder to remain awake in class, even though it was crucial to continue to absorb the last-minute information the teachers were giving us to help us with the exams. And also probably why my two best friends, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, had been obviously and continuously avoiding me for the past two weeks. They knew I'd pressure them to over-study as well. I didn't blame them, though. I DID tend to get rather crabby when I was sleep-deprived...

I hurried down the halls, bag filled with books slung over my shoulder, my frizzy brown hair nearly obscuring my vision. I had fallen asleep in the library during my free period, while I had been studying, and had overslept. This meant I would be late for double potions with the Slytherins, Snape's class, which also meant I would probably get points deducted from Gryffindor and detention, but what could I do?

I ran down the last stone flight of steps into the lower levels of the dungeons, and shivered involuntarily as a cool, stale breeze hit me. I streaked down the last two corridors until I was at Snape's classroom and rushed in. A feeling of dismay fell over me as I saw that everyone else in the class was already partnered up and beginning to brew the potion we were working on today, which also happened to be a wit-sharpening potion.

Professor Snape looked up at me from where he had been inspecting Neville Longbottom's potion rather snidely, and gave me a cold glare.

"Ah, Miss Granger. I see you have decided to grace us with your presence in class today. How spectacular." He said stiffly, it was extremely clear he felt quite the contrary.

I racked my brain for an excuse that would sound at least plausible, for the true story was far too embarrassing and somewhat odd. As a fifth year, sadly, I could not use the excuse that I had gotten lost, for that would be childish and even more embarrassing than the truth. After thinking for a few moments, I still had nothing I could say in my defense.

"Well, you see professor, I had a free period, and I was in the library, studying, and-"

Snape cut me off, waving his hand to silence me.

"None of that, Miss Granger. I do not want any of your petty excuses. For your tardiness, there will be five points taken from Gryffindor. Come late again to my class, Granger, and it will be more. Now, get to work." He snapped.

He indicated for me to begin brewing my potion, but as I went to go sit down at my usual desk with Neville, who I could tell was already having trouble, despite it being only a few minutes into the class, Snape redirected me to a new seat.

"Ah, Ms. Granger, I feel it would be best if you sat next to Mr. Malfoy today. Ms. Parkinson, you may come and work with Longbottom," Snape said. My eyes widened with shock.

Malfoy? I, Hermione Granger, had to work with _Draco Malfoy_?! Glancing over to where he was sitting, I noticed that neither he nor Pansy Parkinson looked all too happy with the arrangement either. She gave him one last flirty look, complete with the batting of eyelashes and a flick of her hair before she stalked over to where Neville was sitting and banged her cauldron on the table, so carelessly and loudly that some of her incomplete potion sloshed over the edges and spilled onto the wooden counter-top.

Snape looked down at her disapprovingly, but said nothing. She _was_ in his own house, after all, and he wouldn't dare take away any points unless absolutely necessary. I wished Professor McGonagall would have that kind of sympathy with the Gryffindors...

I reluctantly made my way over to Malfoy's table, heaving my book-bag along. I lanced over at Harry and Ron, who were sitting at tables next to one another, and they both gave me sympathetic looks, but said nothing and continued brewing. Of course, they were all in the fear that Snape would deduct even more points from our house for another ridiculous reason.

When I reached his table, I could feel someone shooting daggers in my direction. I looked over my shoulder to find Pansy Parkinson glaring at me.

_'She's jealous of me!'_ I thought to myself smugly. But then I realized why she was jealous. It was because I was working with Malfoy, and that made the smugness fade almost immediately.

Malfoy and I were not together, and we never would be. There was, obviously, nothing for her to be jealous of. In all five years that we have known each other, we had never even said "Hello" to one another, and the only greeting he had ever given me was either "Get out of my way, Granger," or "Filthy little mud-blood,". Of course, he hadn't actually spoken a single word to me in years, but those little things he used to say to me were still branded into my mind, and it made me think the absolute lowest of him.

As I slowly dropped my bag to the floor and sat down at the table, Malfoy quickly moved his cauldron closer to the center of the table so I could use it as well. Well, at least he didn't seem to want to see me fail Potions class.

I leaned down to take out my Potions book, and brought it up in front of me onto the table. I realized I had no idea whatsoever on which page the wit-sharpening potion was on, and was just about to go through the index to find it, when Malfoy unexpectedly spoke up.

"It's on page 258," He informed me, and I looked at him. He himself seemed surprised that he had spoken up, and I nodded without replying.

I turned to the page Malfoy had instructed me to, and found myself looking at the wit-sharpening potion. I then realized that I had no idea where in the potion-making process Malfoy was, when he spoke up again.

"I've just added the armadillo bile. Um, here, you can.. Er, you can cut up half of the ginger root." He said, his voice was soft, almost shy. I had never heard him speak in that manner to anyone before, least of all someone from Gryffindor, much less, a muggle-born like me...

"Thanks," I said, much kindly than he had, reashing out to take the ginger root from his hand. I had not planned to look him in the eye for the course of the class, but when his fingers lightly brushed against mine as I took the ginger root from him, I couldn't help looking up. His eyes were fixed on my face, but he quickly looked away and busied himself with something.

I blushed, a colour that I was sure was a deep shade of scarlet, and immediately set to work busying myself with carefully cutting up my half of the ginger root.

The root was much harder to cut than I thought, especially now that I was nervous. With the thought of Malfoy looking at me the way he had been on my mind, and my unfinished nap, I was a complete mess! My hands were starting to sweat, and I repeatedly had to wipe them on my robes. They were shaking, too, which made cutting up the ginger root neatly, almost impossible!

Malfoy seemed to notice I was having trouble, because suddenly his hands were on top of mine, helping me saw the knife back and forth, slowly, to cut up the root neatly, into thin slivers.

I froze as he did this, heart pounding like a pneumatic drill in my chest. Why was Malfoy making me so nervous? He _was_ a Malfoy, after all. He had been nothing but nasty to me in all my five years at Hogwarts. So why, all of a sudden, was he being this nice to me? In the back of my mind I could hear his snotty voice snidely commenting, "So much for being the brightest witch of your age, Granger. You can't even cut up a stupid ginger root without having a panic attack."

I jerked my hands away from him and said rather harshly, "You can finish the rest of those up."

Malfoy simply shrugged indifferently and pulled the ginger root closer to him, so it would be easier for him to cut. I clenched my hands into fists at my sides and took a deep, calming breath. Malfoy's behaviour still puzzled me, but I decided to let it go, and continued brewing the potion.

When Malfoy finished cutting up the ginger root, I scooped up all of the pieces and dropped them into the cauldron.

"Look, I know you hate me, and I know why you do," He said, startling me as I continued to drop the rest of the root into the cauldron. "And you have every right to, but this silence is getting very uncomfortable." He looked over at me, as if to calculate my reaction, but I was too busy biting back an unnecessary smile to notice.

"You know, we don't have to talk about anything personal... Just how you've liked the weather recently, and how horrifying it is that the O. are approaching faster than ever, or what we have in common... Something like that."

I turned to Malfoy, who was now stirring the potion, and bit my lip. "Well, I DO know something we both have in common." I said, he frowned.

"What?"

"Neither of us knows how to make a potion. You were supposed to stir the potion counter-clockwise thrice, not three times clockwise." I told him. He stopped stirring and looked down at the bubbling cauldron of a hot pink we'd created with a bemused expression.

"Oh... I suppose you're right, then." He said thoughtfully, subtly biting his lip. I tried to keep in check my thoughts on just how attractive that was. "I'm somewhat hesitant to call Professor Snape over here, though. He's in one of his moods, and he'll probably just take it all out on you."

"Isn't Snape always in one of those moods?" I asked, laughing lightly. Malfoy did the same, but then I really thought about what he had just said. "And what does it matter to you if Snape takes points away from Gryffindor? Wouldn't that just help Slytherin get ahead?"

"Slytherin was always ahead," Malfoy joked, I rolled my eyes at him. "And it's not the points I'm worried about. I just don't want him yelling at you for no reason at all."

Before I could mull over the strange sweetness and bewildering meaning of Malfoy's words, Snape walked over and looked down at our potion with what I was absolutely positive was a smirk.

"Ms. Granger, it seems that not only were you tardy today, but you also seem determined to drop Malfoy's grade for class work. You've very clearly ruined the potion. Ten points from Gryffindor, and you'd better not let this happen again."

My jaw dropped as Snape walked away. I could've sworn he had a satisfied smirk plastered on his face.

"Sorry about that." Malfoy muttered apologetically, putting out the fire he had conjured up under the cauldron with a flick of his wand.

Still slightly dumbstruck at Snape's obvious favor towards the Slytherins and loathe towards us Gryfiindors, especially me at the moment, I shook my head. "No, it's not your fault. It's Snape, that bloody-" I cut myself off before I could be overheard insulting my dear Potions professor. Not only would I get detention, but I was sure Snape would make the whole affair as horrible as possible. He would most likely have me clean up the dungeons without magic, or polishing the trophies as Ron had done once in our Second year, with Filch.

Malfoy let out a little laugh, and I couldn't help the small smile that graced my face as well. With another flick of his wand, Malfoy made our failure of a potion disappear. I sat down on my stool, awkwardly twiddling my thumbs as we sat there, a highly uncomfortable silence enveloping us. I felt like I wanted to say something, but I wasn't quite sure what anymore. And obviously, Malfoy had lost interest in me or my actions. He had turned around to talk to one of his Slytherin friends. I bit my lip, feeling rejected.

Finally, Potions ended, I jumped out of my seat with my bag and rushed out of the classroom.

"Hermione!" I heard Harry call out to me from behind, but I ignored him, sprinting down the corridor. Believe me, it was not a pleasant affair, running around, lugging a huge bag of books. The farther away from Malfoy I was, the better I would feel.

"Hermione!" Harry called out to me again, but I didn't stop until I reached the library, halfway across the school. I stood outside the library, panting, as I waited for my two friends to catch up with me.

"What the bloody hell was that?!" Ron demanded, glaring at me as he placed his hands on his knees and bent over, trying to regain his breath.

"I... Had... No Idea... You could run so... Fast." Harry said, breathing heavily.

"It was nothing," I told the both of them, ignoring Harry's remark. "I just wanted to get as far away from Anape as I could before he could take even more points from Gryffindor. For me taking too long to walk out of the room, or something..." This wasn't a complete lie, but then again, it wasn't exactly the entire truth either. The fact that I wanted Malfoy, _Malfoy_ of all people, to suddenly like me, and take an interest in me, scared me. And it made me afraid that I would do something idiotic and get my hopes up, only to be shot down and hurt. I mean, we _were_ talking about Malfoy here. Besides, Ron and Harry would KILL me if they knew what was running through my mind...

Harry mumbled something about his charms homework and ran off to Gryffindor tower to get it.

"Well, just don't ever do that running off again. You practically gave me a bloody heart attack!" Ron said, still wheezing. I couldn't help but laugh. The two of us walked into the Great Hall for breakfast.

I sat next to Ron, across from Ginny and we eat in silence. I didn't say much, just absently listened to the people discuss the upcoming exams and lessons.

"Hermione, what are you looking at?" Ginny asked curiously, a crease forming between her brows as she turned to look in the direction I was staring in.

"What? Oh, nothing..." I said, quickly scrambling to busy myself with spreading jam on my toast.

"It couldn't have been _nothing_, you've been distracted all morning!" Ginny said, looking at me worriedly. "Are you feeling alright? Are you sick or something?"

The truth was that I had been staring over at the Slytherin table where Malfoy sat, looking somewhat distracted himself, and talking to some of his house-mates. His silver-blonde hair was combed neatly, as always, making him easily thought of by people, at first glance, that he was some sort of goody-two-shoes. Yes, people actually, honestly, thought of him that way! I thought of him as something else entirely. It was rather odd, especially for me, but I considered him a 'bad boy'. Sort of dark and mysterious, though he was snotty, outspoken and outright rude almost all the time...

"Oh, no, I'm fine. Just a little stressed out, I suppose." I replied, but I couldn't help but glance over at Malfoy's table one more time. What made me jump was that he was staring right at me, his gray eyes brooding. When he saw me looking, however, he swiftly turned away, back to his conservation.

"Um, Ginny, I have to go. I just realized that I forgot my Transfiguration essay upstairs in my room. I've got to go and get it before lessons... I'll meet back up with you at lunch, alright?"

Ginny looked uncertainly, no doubt wondering why I was acting so jittery, but nodded anyway. I raced out of the Great Hall.

In my haste, I forgot to look where I was going, and ran full on into someone, knocking all of the said person's books out of their hands, and spilling my own all over the ground as well.

"Oh, darn it!" I cried out, not realizing how loud I was being until I heard my voice echoing throughout the front entrance. I rubbed my head, wincing in pain, as I looked up to see who I had run into.

"Harry!" I exclaimed, placing my hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright? I'm so sorry, I wasn't quite looking where I was going and-" He cut me off.

"It's okay, Hermione, I'm fine." He said reassuringly, but I wasn't quite convinced by the way he was clutching his head. We both crouched down to gather our books from the ground when he spoke again.

"So, who were you running away from this time?" He asked. I paled.

"What do you mean, who?!" I snapped, my voice shrill. I picked up the last of my books and stuffed them back in my overflowing bag haphazardly. I stood up, as did Harry, his face now confused at my annoyed tone.

"I was running upstairs because I realized I had forgotten my transfiguration book, and I didn't want to be late for another class today." I lied, surprised at how naturally it came to me. I'd never quite thought of myself as a liar, but apparently, I was wrong.

"Oh, alright. Sorry, my mistake." He said, defensively. I sighed.

"Ginny's at the table already. ." I told him, studying his expression. I honestly did not understand what it was between the two of them.

It was bluntly obvious that they both were pining for each other, yet neither of them would admit to it.

His eyes widened, and color rose to his cheeks at the mention of her name and he looked past me at the Gryffindor table, as if to see if I was telling truth.

"Yeah?" He asked, not being able to see where she was seated. I nodded in confirmation before walking off, smiling to myself.

I walked slowly to Transfigurations, wandering around the halls before the bell actually rang to signal the start of classes.

No doubt, I was the first one there, so I patiently waited at one of the desks in the back, where Ron, Harry and I usually sat.

Slowly, at first, then all at once, the students began filing in. But neither Ron nor Harry were to be seen.

Practically all of the students were seated, and whispering excitedly to each other and some happened to be ever so slightly peering at me. I wondered what was going on. None of them came up to say anything, of course, so when the lesson began, I found myself sitting all alone, wondering where on Earth they could have gone.

"So, as you know, the are coming up next week..." Professor McGonagall began, but I zoned out completely.

Very unlike me, I know, but I was far too worried about my friends to care. I hoped they hadn't done something idiotic now. For the love of Merlin, they could be banned from taking their OWLs!

"Now, if you haven't begun studying yet, it's too late to start now, so I really wouldn't bother unless you can really cram everything by then. We have gone over the syllabus in class, and have reviewed as well. I trust that you all are aware of the test consisting of a written portion as well as a part you actually use your wit and wand. Is everybody clear, then?" Professor McGonagall looked around the room, but all was quiet.

"Very well, I shall see you all on Monday, then. And hopefully, you all are prepared for the test by then!" The bell rang just then, and everyone rushed out the door.

Still wondering where Harry and Ron were, I got out of my seat and was about to leave the room when Professor McGonagall called out to me.

"Oh, Miss Granger! A word, please?"

I gulped and nodded before moving in front of her desk. Had she noticed that I hadn't paid any attention in class? Oh, dear.

"Yes, Professor?"

"If you were wondering where your friends were, I saw them going up to Professor Dumbledore's office shortly before breakfast was over." She said.

Oh dear, those two had definitely done something wrong! What bloody nonsense could they have done this time?

"Thank you, Professor." I said quickly, before exiting the room, making a beeline for the headmaster's office.


End file.
